1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to intelligent electronic devices for electrical power systems, and more particularly, to a method for managing flash memory of an intelligent electronic device to maximize the device life.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric utility companies (“utilities”) track electric usage by customers by using power meters. These meters track the amount of power consumed at a particular location. These locations range from power substations, to commercial businesses, to residential homes. The electric utility companies use information obtained from the power meter to charge their customers for their power consumption, i.e. revenue metering.
A popular type of power meter is the socket-type power meter, i.e., S-base or Type S meter. As its name implies, the meter itself plugs into a socket for easy installation, removal and replacement. Other meter installations include panel mounted, switchboard mounted, and circuit breaker mounted. Typically, the power meter connects between utility power lines supplying electricity and a usage point, namely, a residence or commercial place of business.
A power meter may also be placed at a point within the utility's power grid to monitor power flowing through that point for distribution, power loss, or capacity monitoring, e.g., at a substation. These power and energy meters are installed in substations to provide a visual display of real-time data and to alarm when problems occur. These problems include limit alarms, breaker control, outages and many other types of events.
Conventionally, these meters include memory to store data such as measured parameters, results of power quality analysis, etc. This data may be stored over time for retrieval at a later time, e.g., via a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system which may be in a different location from the meter. Depending on the amount of data stored on the device and how often this data is retrieved, these meters may require a large amount of memory for data storage. The information may be organized into multiple files or logs, of varying sizes, and each managed independently of the others.
Therefore, a need exists for devices, systems and methods for storing data sensed and generated by an intelligent electronic device (IED) and for managing the stored data to extend the useful life of the meter.